My Wonderful Team

I work with some great people. That's what I love about my life! Some are professors, some are students, some are employees. And I live a life of endless variety! One of my objectives with this blog is to try to show you some glimpses of that variety. On Thursday, some of the other lady professors and I threw a surprise birthday party for Shelby, who is my assistant in our Student Services Department office. That's Shelby on the right. On the left is my colleague Lut, who is one of the most creative party planners I've ever met!

We (the lady professors) were having a lunch date together, and Shelby thought she was taking pictures for our party. So she was very surprised when it turned out the party was for her.

She has been married for almost a year, so it was sort of a combination of a birthday party and "wife shower" for her. We gave lots of advice (that's what older ladies always do with younger ladies, right???) and gifts, and laughed a lot.

I Love Babies . . . Again

You know me . . . babies are one of my most favorite things in all the world. Last week, one of the ladies in my Iron Sharpening Group gave birth. Her name is Kalpana, and she is from Nepal. I served as a Lamaze coach for her and her husband Satya. It was such a joy to walk through this whole adventure with them. The baby's name is Suyog, which means "perfect timing." When they first found out they were expecting, they were a bit disappointed because it meant changing many of their plans and dreams. But as the months went by, God showed them that it all fit into His perfect plan.

My highlight was on the morning of Suyog's birth. About two hours after the birth, Kalpana was asleep, recovering from the delivery, Satya had gone downstairs to get breakfast for us, and I was just straightening up the room. The baby had been taken for his check-up. We didn't expect him to be brought back for a while, as things usually move slowly in the hospital. Suddenly the nurse came in and said they were finished already, and handed me the baby! It caught me by surprise.

So, I took him in my arms, sat in a chair, and looked into his eyes. He was so alert, as Lamaze babies usually are. He looked back at me, straight into my eyes. How does a brand new baby know to look at your eyes??? I felt like I was on holy ground. It was a very precious half hour. We looked at each other, and I prayed for his life. Awesome.

Shirley Tiu and the One Hundred Haircuts

That sounds like it should be the title of a children's story, doesn't it? People bless our school in all kinds of ways. Since I handle the Student Services Department, people often contact me with a desire to help our students. Usually that means scholarships, but occasionally blessings come in other packages. Last year a lady named Shirley Tiu contacted me and asked if she could offer haircuts at our school. She owns a beauty salon, and she decided that in order to give thanks to God for blessing her business, she wanted to bless others. So, she brought a few of her workers to our school for a day and offered free haircuts. God continued to bless her business this year, so she decided to bless our students again. From morning till afternoon they did one hundred haircuts. Here is Shirley (on the right) with Shelby, my assistant.

The youngest customer was a four-month-old from Romania, who had to sit in Mom's lap.

You can play "Where's Waldo" with the remaining photos and try to find me.